After a long and, at times, frustrating wait, goalkeeper Deniz Mehmet finally made his Dundee United league debut on Tuesday.
Any delight at that was obviously severely diluted by a demoralising 3-2 home defeat at the hands of Queen of the South and even the fact manager Csaba Laszlo made a point of exonerating him from any blame did not ease his pain.
The 25-year-old Londoner, however, remains eager to play his part in what has become an increasingly desperate struggle to turn the Tangerines’ season around.
“It’s not particularly any consolation, there was nothing I could do about the goals we conceded on Tuesday. I’m gutted, to be honest, that, having waited so long, I started my season with a result like that,” said the 25-year-old.
“You get a chance and to start with a 3-2 loss, especially after getting back in the game from being two goals down in the first half completely against the run of play, is really difficult.
“But what we have to do now is pick ourselves up and make sure we are ready to go again against Dunfermline.
“We need to get a run of games going and get our confidence back up again, believe in ourselves and get going again. We need to get as many points as we can between now and the end of the regular season and see how high we can finish.
“Obviously, St Mirren are getting wins while we are not doing ourselves any favours but it will just come down to getting two or three wins and we can get ourselves back up and take things from there.”
The man who prefers to be known simply as Deniz, does believe United have had way more than their share of unlucky breaks this season but knows where the responsibility for changing the luck lies.
And after going behind in each of the last six games, starting games better is an obvious priority.
“Things don’t seem to be going our way at the moment but it is only us who can change it. It’s up to us as players to turn things around.
“We had identified we had to start the way we were finishing games.
“In the previous two games we weren’t at the races at the start, then switched on in the second half, won against Queen of the South and should have won against Inverness.
“I felt we did that on Tuesday and were dominating but then we lost a goal. We got counter-attacked and lost goals, so we need to tighten up.”
Deniz, has faced his own challenges since signing a one-year deal at Tannadice last July.
Within 24 hours of him joining up, Southampton’s Harry Lewis was fixed up on a season-long loan and he’s since had to play second fiddle to the teenager.
He did get a handful of games in the League and Irn-Bru cups but, with the Championship being the big priority, feels his season only started for real on Tuesday.
“It’s been tough for me but I’ve just had to work hard, keep myself as fit as possible and do well when I got games in the cup competitions. I’ve also played in a lot of the reserve games to keep fit and show I’m ready for when the manager calls on me.
“I’ve kept my match fitness up. I’ve tried to use the games for the U/20s to show what I can do but they are a different type of game from the first team in the way you manage them, so it’s not been easy.
“It was good for me to get my first league start but losing was not the best. I’m hoping to get a run of games and see what we can do between now and the end of the season.”
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